«　WEEK 7　DAY 3　»

　　1 Tim. 4:7 But the profane and old-womanish myths refuse, and exercise yourself unto godliness.

　　Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

　　1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

　　The exercise of our spirit is one of the items of the Lord’s recovery in these last days. To worship in the human spirit has been much neglected by today’s Christianity. Many today have forgotten about the exercise of the human spirit and instead exercise their mind. Therefore, in order to be trained in a proper way in the Lord’s service in the church life, the first matter is that we must learn to exercise our spirit….To exercise our mind in the service is like using our hands to play soccer.

　　We need to learn to exercise our spirit in our daily life. The Epistles tell us that we must walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4-6)…. If we are exercised to walk according to the spirit, our spirit will be active when we come to the meetings. We will know how to exercise our spirit. Even in our home, in dealing with our family, we must learn how to exercise our spirit, to do and speak things not by our mind, emotions, desires, or likes but by the inner feeling, the consciousness of the spirit. We must learn how to exercise according to the deepest feeling in our spirit. Then we will be used to exercising our spirit, so whenever we come to the meeting, we will be ready. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel,” p. 80)

　　We must learn how to discern our spirit and to exercise it all the time. Then whenever we come together, we will know how to use our spirit. Our spirit will be on the alert, ready, active, and living….The church life is a life in the human spirit with the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit today indwells our spirit, so we must know how to exercise our spirit. This is one aspect of the principle of the New Testament worship.

　　The other aspect of the New Testament worship is to worship in truthfulness, that is, in reality, in Christ….The people in the ancient times had to bring all their surplus to Jerusalem to offer it and enjoy it with one another in the presence of God. At least a part of what they offered was food to God. Not only the people of Israel enjoyed the surplus, but God also enjoyed it. This typifies that we come to the meetings to exercise our spirit to exhibit Christ. When the people of Israel came together and brought all their surplus to Jerusalem, that became a “fair,” an exhibition, of the produce of the good land. Likewise, when we Christians come together, the Christian meeting is an exhibition of Christ. We exercise our spirit to exhibit Christ.

　　We all must learn how to exercise our spirit to minister Christ, apply Christ, and share Christ with others. This depends on our daily labor. If we do not labor on Christ and live by Christ, we will have nothing of Christ in our hand. Even if we understand how to exercise our spirit, we may have the technique but not the material. When we come to the meeting, our spirit may be positive, active, living, on the alert, and ready to exercise, but we may be poor and empty-handed, not having anything of Christ to minister. If this is so, we are worshipping in spirit but not in reality; we are in Jerusalem, but we do not have a surplus in our hands. Therefore, the church life depends on our daily exercise of the spirit and also on our daily walk in Christ. We have to labor on Christ, walk in Christ, live by Christ, and have many experiences of Christ. Then we will be rich in Christ and with Christ. When we come to the meeting, we will know how to exercise our spirit, and we will have much surplus of Christ. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel,” pp. 81-82)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel,” chs. 1-2; CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, “The Spirit and the Body,” ch. 11